The Esports Nations Cup is one of the major announcements at the New Global Sport Conference in Riyadh. Following the Esports World Cup, this series of tournaments will be the next big thing to increase the competition on a national team level.
Announced on Aug. 23, 2025, the ENC is set to launch next year. Electronic Arts, Tencent, Ubisoft, and Krafton are some of the big names that have collaborated to take the competition further.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Esports Nations Cup, including its schedule, featured games, hosts, and more details.
When will the Esports Nations Cup start?
The Esports Nations Cup is scheduled to commence in November 2026 and will take place every two years thereafter. At the time of writing, the exact start date is yet to be revealed.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia will be the first city to host the inaugural edition of the ENC, with the host rotationally changing to bring national esports teams to fans and cultures worldwide.
Which regions and games will be part of ENC?
All major regions will feature their national teams. This includes North America, South America,
Europe, MENA, Africa, Asia, South East Asia, and Oceania.
At the time of writing, the titles of the games are yet to be revealed. Since EA, Tencent, Ubisoft, and Krafton are the major partners, we can expect EA Sports FC, PUBG, and Rainbow Six Siege X to have their own events, along with other popular titles such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike 2, VALORANT, Overwatch 2, Street Fighter 6, and more.
Esports Nations Cup format
ENC will feature both team-based and single-player formats. It will be in the form of a multi-layer qualification model featuring global rankings, regional qualifiers, as well as wildcard entries
Like other tournaments, players will receive guaranteed prize money, with equal placement rewards across all games to ensure fairness. The Esports World Cup Foundation will work closely with the stakeholders in each region to form the teams.
